


I Can't Read Your Mind (I've Tried)

by trubenblack



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: (past) - Freeform, Betting, F/M, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Languages, M/M, This is really dumb and soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-13 15:28:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21157262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trubenblack/pseuds/trubenblack
Summary: based on a Tumblr prompt from insanewallaby.how about the foxes figuring out just how many languages he knows (besides the ones already mentioned in the book)





	I Can't Read Your Mind (I've Tried)

The foxes knew that Neil spoke a lot of languages. He’d mentioned it in passing a few times along with speaking in French and German with the monsters. They all knew that he probably spoke more languages then that, but nobody had managed to work out how many or exactly which ones.

It was when Neil distractedly answered something that Nicky said in Spanish that they started to wonder how many languages he actually spoke. Being the foxes, of course they made a bet. They had an older foxes meeting whilst Andrew and Neil were on the roof doing whatever they did up there, each of them putting $50 in to make the pot large enough for everyone (minus Renee) to want to get involved.

The rules were simple:

  1. Over the course of two weeks each person is allowed 20 minutes during a day to try to work out exactly how many languages Neil spoke
  2. They were not allowed to make it obvious or ask him outright

And

3\. Under no circumstances were Neil OR Andrew to know this bet was happening or it would spoil it.

With the rules set they all went on their way, each person planning out how they were going to get it out of Neil.

\--- 

Kevin went first during their night practice. Yelling at Neil in French until he started cursing him out, a clever idea he thought, as Neil had a habit or calling him a whiny bitch in multiple languages. So all he had to do was remember the words used and look them up on google translate. He soon realized it wasn’t quite that easy, as a lot of words were the same, but he managed to make a list of at least five languages.

\--- 

Next it was Allison’s turn as she took Neil out on a “gossip date”, a tradition they had fallen into when both of them needed to get away from the team. Unfortunately, as all the foxes knew, getting information from Neil was a bit like pulling teeth. Although he tried not to lie or keep anything from his foxes, he also never went out of his way to give extra information - this was a habit he would never be able to completely shake in his lifetime. After their food was ordered, Allison sat across from him as he started to get worked up about Jack and Sheena and what assholes they were. Allison mostly listened and answered where necessary, but she was trying to look for some sort of opening to ask him about it. She was in luck, as for once he openly mentioned something about his past.

“I bet if Jack had been forced into that stupid school mum sent me to in London briefly, he wouldn’t talk back the way he does.” His eyebrows were furrowed in frustration and Allison had to stop herself from smiling. Jackpot.

“I’ve always wondered Neil, how many countries did you live in when you were traveling?” She asked, trying not to trigger anything too much that he shut down. Unfortunately, she seemed to have touched a nerve as his face went blank.

“Too many.” Well that wasn’t exactly helpful, she sighed, trying to dig a little deeper without actually hurting or truly upsetting her best friend.

“I lived in France for a little while, my parents had a spare house there near Tousson that I used I used to go to during summer, I travelled around afterward but I always wished that I’d stayed longer and learned more about the culture and languages in other countries.”

“Learning languages was fun,” Neil looked thoughtful before frowning a little, “the worst part was learning different dialects for places such as Switzerland or Belgium, languages change in every country they all have their own slang and accent. Learning mandarin was one of the hardest languages though.”

Allison smiled to herself and tried to push for a bit more but unfortunately that was about all she could get out of him. So, her list had hit 5 languages. She was a little disappointed but figured if she couldn’t get it out of him no one else would either.

\--- 

Nicky tried a few days later. His attempt, which seemed ingenious in his head, ended with a less than satisfactory result. He tried mentioning his favourite lullabies as a kid, mentioning that his mother used to sing to him in multiple languages as he was growing up which helped him to learn Spanish easier. 

“Did your mum sing you any songs like that to help you learn your languages?” He asked slyly, hoping that he’d asked just the right way to not upset Neil.

“No,” Neil said, “Mum never sang to me. When I was still in Baltimore my father said singing was for babies and he wouldn’t have a baby in his house. He threw me against a wall when he heard me humming once.” Nicky flinched but Neil said it like he was stating a fact about birds, disconnected like it was just an everyday thing that happened. “After we ran away mum refused to make any more noise than necessary. Singing lullabies wasn’t on the agenda when we were trying to stay alive.” He looked down at his scarred hands, eyes clouding over with memories, before standing up. “I have to go do some homework. Can you tell Andrew I’m at the library when he gets back? I’ve lost my phone.”

With that he left, leaving Nicky feeling dejected with no new information and having to deal with a slightly annoyed Andrew who had just got back from a session with Aaron.

\---

Matt and Dan decided to work together and split the money if they won. Although Nicky and Kevin complained, there was nothing in the rules about not teaming up –as Dan stated multiple times to Matt when he started to feel guilty. They set their plan for the weekend, inviting Neil to a movie night with them to “watch foreign films” they made sure each had the synopsis on the back of the DVD written in a language that was not English and their plan fell into motion.

They had chosen a few European ones: one in polish, one in German, one in Italian, one in Dutch and one wildcard which they found randomly and figured why not one in Afrikaans? When Neil came over and they had their snacks it was time to set their trap.

“Hey Neil,” Dan said, after *confusedly* looking at the DVD’s. “Can you tell us what each of these movies are about? We can’t choose without knowing.” She beamed at him when Neil, a little bemusedly, came over to look at them.

“Why didn’t you look at this before you got them?” He asked.

“Oh, that was my bad. I just grabbed a bunch because I was running late.” Matt had a habit of doing things like that, so it was a believable lie. Neil shrugged and started translating each synopsis for them as they smiled at each other behind him.

From what they worked out he could read everything except for Afrikaans, which they were a little disappointed about, but 4/5 was a pretty good run and they settled down to watch the Dutch murder mystery.

\---

The final fox to take on the task was Aaron, who was under no delusions, knowing that he didn’t talk to Neil that much; he did however talk to Andrew. Their relationship was getting better, although they rarely talked about Neil or Katelyn with each other. That was still a rather taboo topic, but he reckoned he could get something out of Andrew at their next session. He set it up when Dr Dobson asked them how their weeks had been.

“I’ve been looking into learning a new language but I’m not sure which one would be best,” he said, looking at Andrew out of the corner of his eye. “I want to be able to curse out the other Foxes like Josten does when he starts getting pissed at Kevin.” Andrew snorted but said nothing. Bee looked a bit disapproving but motioned for him to go on.

“Dude speaks so many languages it’s ridiculous, but I want to learn something he doesn’t know so I can tell him what a wanker he is as well.” He was walking a thin line here, trying not to make Andrew think he was truly attacking Neil whilst still getting enough of his attention to make him answer. “I’m thinking like Portuguese or something”

“He speaks Portuguese,” Andrew said, not looking at Aaron, “try Greek or Ukrainian. He never went to those countries.” Aaron nodded and filed that information away. That was about the best they could get out of him.

\---

Finally, the questions portion of the bet was over and it was time to work out who won the money. They organized a Foxes night, each bringing their lists of languages, which went as:

**Kevin**: French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, and one he couldn’t get

**Allison:** French, german, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and mandarin

**Nicky: **French, German, Spanish and he guessed Italian,

**Matt and Dan**: French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and polish

And **Aaron**: French, German, Italian, Spanish and finally danish which he had heard him mention once.

Bets officially made, they all sat down, and Kevin said something to Neil in French. He snapped something back. His sharp tongue it seemed was as sharp in other languages as it was in English.

“You’re really good at French Neil, you must be really good at all your languages.” Nicky said, not with much tact.

“I guess,” Neil shrugged, “I had to be when we were living there, or people would know I wasn’t from that country.”

“So which languages do you know?” Kevin asked outright, the others flinched a little at how obvious he was being, but although Andrew looked a little suspicious Neil was oblivious, thinking and slowly counting out loud, holding out a finger for each one” 

“French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Polish, Italian, Finnish, Romanian, Portuguese, mandarin and um...”

“Russian,” Andrew said over him. The foxes stared at them both in surprise.

“Yeah,” Neil smiled softly at Andrew, seemingly forgetting what he was talking about. Andrew pushed his face away before turning to the foxes.

“He speaks twelve languages.”

The foxes were in shock for a minute before starting to bicker with each other. Nobody knew who would get the money. Allison and Dan And Matt had gotten the same amount of languages – albeit different ones, but Allison claimed that because they were working together, they technically only got three each.

“You guys were betting on me?” Neil said, looking incredibly unimpressed. All the foxes except Allison looked away, feeling a little guilty or sheepish, but still wanting that money. Andrew whispered something to Neil, and he got a wicked look in his eyes. 

“So.... considering none of you got the correct answer, AND you were betting on me without my permission or knowledge. I’d say I’ve won the money fair and square.”

“Absolutely not!” Kevin exclaimed, “you weren’t even part of the bet.” 

“I was the whole bet Kevin; you guys just didn’t do a good enough job. That money should go to me.” Neil smirked as the foxes tried to come up with a reason to deny him. A voice piped up from next to Allison. 

“Neil’s right. It’s only fair.” Renee’s eyes were mirroring the wickedness in Neil’s, and everyone deflated. Renee was usually right, and nobody wanted to argue with her. Neil laughed as he received the money before giving half to Renee who tried to refuse.

“You’re the only one who didn’t take part in this stupid bet. I want to give it to you.”

\---

(That is, of course, until they forget and try again)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this was okay! I haven't written in ages so it was super fun to do this and get some ideas. 
> 
> Come message me on Tumblr trubenblack.tumblr.com and let me know what you think of this or any of my other fics or just to ask questions :) (if I don't answer immediately I'm sorry I'm pretty inactive but I will always respond eventually) 
> 
> thank you again to insane wallaby I had heaps of fun writing this and I hope its okay and you liked it :)


End file.
